This invention pertains to a support brace assembly for mounting a shelf to a wall and particularly to such an assembly using a strong, integral support brace having converging legs for supporting the shelf in a downwardly inclined position so that it can serve as a shoe rack. Various types of devices have been used to support such shelves. In the past such devices have involved a number of separate components and therefore are not unitary and economical in structure. The prior art devices do not maximize the load supporting capacity of the structural members. Heretofore in some devices, a wall anchor has been used to mount the device, and the wall anchor has been of the kind having laterally expandable fingers that are expanded against the back side of a wall when a screw is extended through the wall anchor.
In summary, there are many shelf supporting braces in the prior art, and some have been mounted with wall anchors having laterally expandable fingers. However, none are designed to support a shelf at a downwardly inclined position wherein the brace comprises a strong integral combination of converging legs, structural webs and gussets, an integral wall anchor having fingers that are laterally expandable in the presence of a drive pin, and an integral hinged stop that both locks the shelf to the brace and hides the head of the pin.
Thus, in spite of the myriad of pins and braces for supporting shelves to walls, including a wide variety of devices for attaching the braces to the walls, none incorporate the combination of features of the present invention.
The support brace assembly of the present invention is particularly adapted to be used with shelves of the kind having transverse support rods. The support brace assembly comprises a brace having a unitary molded truss with a lower leg having a wall end that can bear against a wall to provide stable support. Yet the wall end need not be physically attached to the wall. An upper leg also has a wall end incorporating a special anchor for attachment of the brace to the wall. From their wall ends, the upper and lower legs converge toward their free or front ends where they are integrally connected together.
Additional integral connections between the upper and lower legs can include a strut and a gusset, and the legs preferably have integral supporting ribs between the strut and gusset for added strength. Preferably the lower leg, which is in compression when in use, has a cross section of greater area than the upper leg which is in tension when in use. A pair of support hooks are integrally formed at the wall end and free end of the upper leg with the hook at the free or front end preferably being disposed at the apex of the truss defined by the junction of both legs. This front hook has a curvature which permits a shelf rod to be received within the hook.
The other hook is disposed toward the wall end the upper leg and because of a special hinged stop, this hook can have a bite which encircles less than a 180.degree. arc.
The stop is integrally joined to the upper leg by a thin plastic strip that acts as a hinge. A latch projection extends from the stop and a recess in the upper leg receives the latch projection to lock the stop to the foot when the stop has been pivoted about the plastic strip hinge to a closed position. When the stop is in the closed position it blocks the hook opening to prevent release of a transverse shelf rod from the hook. In addition, in the latched position, the stop hides the head of a drive pin, as will be apparent.
A wall anchor extends from the upper leg to extend through a pre-drilled hole in a wall. The anchor has a body section with rings on its outer surface. The rings on the body section are sawtooth in side view and the forward-facing edges of the rings are substantially radial to the body so that they resist removal of the wall anchor from the hole in the wall to a maximum degree.
Laterally expandable fingers are joined to the rear of the body section by unitary plastic connectors that act as hinges. The fingers are normally together, as molded. Therefore, it is not necessary to squeeze the fingers together to insert the body section into a predrilled hole in a wall. The laterally expandable fingers include transverse wall portions in the path of a passage through the body section so that when a drive pin is driven through the body section, its lead end will contact the wall portions and, through a camming action, spread the fingers into laterally extending positions, and hold them there. The transverse walls are preferably inclined inwardly and toward the head of the socket so that the pin will pivot the fingers as far outwardly as possible toward ninety degree projections relative to the axis of the passage.
A special feature of this invention is the provision of a web slightly spaced from the transverse walls. There is a small opening through the web, such as a slit. Without the web, a stress line would be formed during molding, the end of the core forming the passage where that core intersects the transverse walls. By providing the web, the location of the stress line is moved to the intersection of the core and the web, and the walls joining the web and the transverse walls can be formed rounded with no stress lines. This avoids failure at the pivot lines of the fingers that might result from stress lines.
The web performs another function. As the drive pin is driven through the passage, it first contacts the web and, because the slit is parallel to the pivot lines of the fingers, the pin will split the web and pivot its halves toward the fingers. Thereafter, when the pin cams the fingers outwardly, the web halves lie against the pin and present edges opposing a tendency of the transverse walls to slide back along the pin.
The drive pin can be held in a ready position in the body section by projections which press against the pin sufficiently to hold it in the body section. From this ready position, the pin can be driven by a hammer.
The aforementioned recess in the pivotally mounted stop is such that when the drive pin is forced through the anchor body section to the hilt, the head of the pin is comfortably housed within the stop recess when the stop is in the latched position so that the pin is concealed.
The stop is molded in an upright position and will normally hold that position until manually pivoted about its hinge. This leaves maximum exposure of the pin head area to a hammer. Even after driving the drive pin to anchor the support brace to a wall, the stop is left in the upright position until installation of the shelf.
After at least two of the support braces have been mounted to a wall, the shelf is installed by first moving one of the shelf transverse rods to the entrance to the rear hook while moving another transverse rod to a position in alignment with the opening to the front hook. The two transverse rods can then be moved forwardly so that the rear transverse rod presses against the tip of the rear hook to press the resilient hook to widen the hook opening to permit passage of the transverse rod therethrough. The rear hook can then spring downwardly to press against the rear transverse rod to hold it in place. As the rear rod moves forwardly, the front transverse rod moves into the opening of the front hook to rest within the bite of that hook in a stable and rigid mounting position. After installing of the shelf, the stops can be latched in place, locking the shelf rod in the hooks.
The invention thus provides a single unitary brace which can be made of molded plastic, which is simple and inexpensive in design. Even the one separate part of the brace assembly, the drive pin, is preloaded and held in the wall anchor, ready to be driven, and provides stable support with but one portion of the brace being affixed to the wall while another portion of the brace provides stable support by simply resting against the wall in a detached position. The design utilizes the material forming the structure in a solid rigid fashion to provide stability, and provides for ease in manufacturing, packaging, and shipping.
Because the support brace is unitary there are no problems as customary with braces having multiple parts, such as dropping, losing or misplacing parts, especially smaller parts, and having to take the time to correctly follow various directions to attach individual parts together. The pin of the brace assembly is attached to the brace so that the installer needs no externally supplied nails, screws or other parts to do the installation.